Tag Archives: Tajikistan

Tajik police shaves 13000 beards

JAN. 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – In 2015, officials in Tajikistan shaved off beards on nearly 13,000 men, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported quoting a police press conference. The police described the purge as a war against excessive Islamic influences in the country. Tajikistan has said constantly over the past few years that Islamic radicals pose a real threat to its security. Rights activists have said this is simply another way of imposing control.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Tajikistan says it’s unhappy with progress on oil and gas field

DUSHANBE, JAN. 12 2016, (The Conway Bulletin) — The Tajik government said it was dissatisfied with the progress of the Bokhtar Operating Company, a joint venture between Tethys Petroleum, Total and CNPC which is exploring the country’s most promising oil field.

Murod Jumazoda, head of the government’s Geology Department, said the consortium was developing the site too slowly and that this could result in the government seizing 25% of the licensed area.

“They [the companies forming the joint venture] will have to return 25% of the oil and gas exploration area to the government this year,” Mr Jumazoda said at a press conference.

According to Tajik law, the government has the right to take back up to 25% of a licensed oil and gas area that has failed to produce within seven years of the license being granted. But Tethys, which is listed on the London stock exchange, disagreed with the government’s interpretation of the law.

“The first relinquishment is not due until 2020,” a PR agency speaking on behalf of Tethys told The Conway Bulletin.

This may become controversial as it was in 2008 that the Tajik government awarded Tethys an exploration licence to explore a 36,000 square km area around 100km south of Dushanbe for oil and gas.

But, and this is probably what Tethys’ PR agency was alluding to, the present composition of the Bokhtar Operating Company, owned by Tethys Petroleum, CNPC and Total, was finalised in 2013.

According to Tethys’ calculations, the field holds around 27.5b barrels of oil equivalent of recoverable resources. For Tajikistan, which is resource poor, this is a tantalising prospect.

Tethys is the lead operator of the Bokhtar Operating Company.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

Currencies: Azerbaijan’s manat, Kazakhstan’s tenge

JAN. 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — In Azerbaijan, people took to the streets to protest against inflation and unemployment. The manat grew slightly to 1.58/$1, but what angers people most is the increase in prices, especially for imported goods.

In Kazakhstan, the tenge depreciated further to 366/$1, a 6% drop on the previous week. Many worry now that there could be no end to the downward spiral.

In Tajikistan, the somoni lost an additional 2% this week, trading at 7.38/$1. The currency slide in the country doesn’t seem to slow.

In Kyrgyzstan the Central Bank has kept the som stable at 75.9/$1 by intervening several times in the currency market. The Georgian Central Bank also protected the lari with a few interventions. In Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, the governments imposed further restrictions on the trade of foreign currencies, by limiting licenses to banks, airports and, in Azerbaijan’s case, hotels.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

Stock market: Centerra Gold, Central Asia Metals

JAN. 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Mining companies in Central Asia had different experiences this week.

In Toronto, Centerra Gold shares fell 6.6% to 7.01 Canadian dollars. The company’s optimistic results published on Jan. 11 gave its shares a short-lived boost at the beginning of the week, but the continuation of the row with the Kyrgyz government may be eroding investors’ confidence.

Kazakhstan-focused Central Asia Metals lost 8.2% in the week, but closed on an upward note at 128.75p on Thursday. Against this trend, KAZ Minerals gained 5% this week, closing at 94.5p.

Oil and gas companies continued to suffer through the lowest oil prices in a decade, now heading below $30/barrel. Tethys Petroleum, which had financial troubles in its operations in Tajikistan, lost 26% in London to close at 2.13p on Thursday. In the past week, Nostrum Oil & Gas shares lost 8.4% to 329.9p. Roxi Petroleum also lost 12.3% to close at 7.13p.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

Tajikistan cancels pay rise

JAN. 11 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Tajik government has cancelled a planned pay rise for state workers, media reported. With inflation rising and the value of its somoni currency falling, the Tajik government had planned the pay rise to boost morale, and loyalty, amongst its staff just before an election last year. With the election fading into memory and an economic slowdown taking a stronger and firmer grip, it appears to have been decided that the pay rise was no longer needed.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

Markets: Tethys spotlight

JAN. 12 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Guernsey-based oil and gas company Tethys Petroleum continues to travel along the bumpy roads of Central Asia. After a lengthy tug-of-war with Nostrum Petroleum over a takeover offer, it finally agreed with a $35m deal with Olisol, an oil investment group in Kazakhstan.

The funds, however, have not yet reached Tethys and at the end of December, the company said it “does not have sufficient funding to meet its requirements beyond next few months.”

In its operation at Tajikistan’s Bokhtar field, Tethys has lost the confidence of Total and CNPC, its partners in the project, after failing to pay its share for two consecutive cash calls.

What Tethys now doesn’t need is a fight with the Tajik government over the Bokhtar licence. The Tajik side says it’s been seven years since the beginning of the exploration and it is now entitled by law to strip 25% of the licensed area from the consortium.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

Austria’s ILF signs deal to update Tajik HPP

DUSHANBE, JAN. 10 2016, (The Conway Bulletin) — Austrian company ILF Consulting Engineers signed a contract with Tajik state-owned utilities company Barqi Tojik to provide consulting services to modernise the Kayrakkum hydropower project, a key part of Tajikistan’s plans to become a regional exporter of electricity.

The Soviet-era facilities at the Kayrakkum plant have now reached the end of their lifecycle and the total cost of the modernisation of the plant is estimated at $169m. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development will finance around $50m.

Barqi Tojik also intends to increase capacity of the hydropower plant, from 126MW to 174MW, giving an annual total output of 900 GWh.

Tajikistan, which produces around 98% of its electricity from hydropower sources, is trying to improve its power capacity.

It is part of the CASA-1000 project, an ambitious export project to send electricity to Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The project is due for completion in 2019 and to fulfil its role of supplier, Tajikistan needs to speed up its modernisation projects. Kyrgyzstan is also involved in the CASA-100 project. Last month, Kyrgyzstan’s biggest hydropower station, Toktogul, broke down.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

Tajik MPs consider constitutional changes

JAN. 13 2016, DUSHANBE (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajikistan’s parliament is considering changes to the constitution that will, effectively, cement control of the country under President Emomali Rakhmon and his family.

Local media reported that MPs were looking into scrapping term limits for the president and also lowering the minimum age of presidential candidates to 30 from 35.

This second potential amendment would mean that Rakhmon’s son, Rustam, would be eligible to take over as president in 2020 when the next presidential election is due. He will be 33 in 2020.

A Dushanbe-based analyst who asked to remain anonymous said: “Both Rakhmon and his son will be eligible for presidency in 2020. I think, they want to keep both doors open and the decision will be taken only in 2020 according to situation and condition, as well as on how the incumbent president feels.”

Human rights and democracy group have accused Mr Rakhmon, who has been president since the 1990s, of acting as an autocrat,

imprisoning opposition leaders and cracking down on dissent. But governments, both from the West and also Russia and China, have seemingly preferred to see a strong Mr Rakhmon remain in power and act as a bulwark against any northern momentum from the Taliban in Afghanistan.

And most people in Tajikistan appear to support the status quo. “We need stability in the country,” said a man in his 50s walking in Dushanbe. “I don’t care who is the President, I just don’t want any war.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

ICG warns Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan on Taliban threat

JAN. 11 2016, DUSHANBE (The Conway Bulletin) — Anti-terrorist operations by Pakistan’s military along its border with Afghanistan have pushed Islamist fighters north, increasing the threat posed by the Taliban to Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) said.

The ICG said these battle-hardened radicals had played a key role in briefly capturing Kunduz, on the border with Tajikistan, last year.

“Insecurity in Afghanistan’s northern provinces, including Taliban control of districts across from Tajikistan, has increased pressure, with risk that battle-experienced Islamic militants could link up with even small numbers of potential allies inside the country,” ICG wrote.

The ICG is an influential voice. Its report sides with Russia’s analysis that stability along Central Asia’s southern border has worsened.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

Iran ratifies security deal with Tajikistan

JAN. 11 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Iran’s parliament ratified a security deal with Tajikistan despite a row over an invitation to a Tajik opposition leader to visit Tehran that dented relations between the two countries earlier this month. Tajik president Emomali Rakhmon and Iran’s Hassan Rouhani had agreed the security deal in 2014.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)